Astronomy college course/Sandbox

Students in this course may make contributions here. Submit under the alias that was assigned to you.

This sandbox is set up for IP edits, which should be from a campus computer if you don't want to publicize your IP address. Student who contribute under usernames should understand that these pages are routinely purged in such a way that only the history page documents the contributions.

Future edits by the 2015 Astronomy course should be made here: Astronomy college course/Presidential sandbox

John Adams   (1797-1801)

1 inspired: What is the lifespan of a star like our Sun (before fusion ceases)?

	5 billion years
	10 billion years
	15 billion years
	20 billion years

2 copied: A star that first begins its lifespan is known as a

	protostar
	red giant
	red dwarf
	blue giant
	yellow dwarf

3 copied: The constellation Aries is named after the Roman god of war

	true
	false

Andrew Jackson   (1829-1837)

Earth's inner core is believed to be ______ the surface of the Sun

	not nearly as hot as
	approximately as hot as
	much hotter than

John Tyler   (1841-1845)

Planetary science

1 A shield volcano consists of

	argon
	sediment
	iron
	magma

2 The largest volcano on Mars has the name

	Olympus
	Mauna Lou
	Europa
	answer
	answer

Stellar evolution

1 Stellar evolution is the process by which the ratio of Type-1 and Type-2 stars has changed since the big bang.

	true
	false

2 Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes during its lifetime.

	true
	false

3 Most stars more massive than the Sun end their lives as Supernovae. copied verbatum

	true
	false

4 A black hole is defined as any object that absorbs all the light that strikes it

	true
	false

James K. Polk   (1845-1849)

Planetary Science

all questions are copied verbatum or only slightly edited. The only exception is the Sierpinski triangle and other geometric doubling questions, which were inspired by the Jupiter to Earth mass and diameter ratios.

1 What two types of volcanoes have been found on Mars?

	shield volcanoes and volcanic vents
	shield volcanoes and composite cone volcanoes
	vocanic vents and mauna loa

2 The solar system's largest volcano is on

	Mars
	Earth
	Jupiter
	Venus
	Europa

3 The solar system's largest shield volcanoes are large because of

	lack of oxygen
	low gravity
	large gravity
	rapid plate tectonic motion
	absence of plate tectonic motion

4 How many times larger in volume is the largest shield volcano in the solar system compared with the largest shield volcano on Earth?

	100 times larger
	1 times larger (because it's on Earth!)
	30 times larger
	3 times larger
	300 times larger

5 Jupiter is _____ times smaller in mass than the Sun

	10
	100
	1,000
	10,000
	100,000

6 Jupiter is _____ times smaller in diameter than the Sun

	10
	100
	1,000
	10,000
	100,000

7 When you double the length of a square you get ___ times as much area.

	2
	4
	8
	16

8 When you double the length of a cube you get ___ times as much volume.

	2
	4
	8
	16

9

When you double the length of a Sierpinski triangle, you get ____ times as much Sierpinski triangle

Include only black

	2
	3
	4
	5
	6

10 When you double the length of a piece of string, you get ____ times as much string.

	2
	3
	4
	5
	6

Stellar evolution

1 Isolated dwarf stars are stable, remaining in this form indefinitely.

	true
	false

2 Isolated dwarf stars are unstable and end up as neutron stars

	true
	false

3 What is the outward force that sustains a white dwarf's diameter

	pressure from photons
	pressure from X-rays
	electron degeneracy -- the same thing that makes metal difficult to compress
	neutron degeneracy -- the same thing that makes atomic nuclei difficult to compress

4 The neutron star is formed

	in the core as soon as the star forms
	from a core collapse of large star
	when a black hole ejects its mass
	answer

5 Where are the black dwarfs (formed when white dwarfs cool to blackness)?

	at the center of galaxies
	the universe is too young to have formed them
	at the center of the universe
	at the outer rims of galaxies
	they lie between the galaxies

6 Why do white dwarfs take longer to cool?

	the volume is too small
	the mass is too small
	the mass density is too small
	they are located in a part of the universe that doesn't cool
	the surface area is too small

7 For mid-sized stars, the next step after being in the main sequence is to become a

	red giant
	white dwarf
	red dwarf
	neutron star
	protostar

Millard Fillmore   (1850-1853)

Newton's Dark Secrets

1 copied:Newton predicted that the world would end in

	2012
	2060
	1642
	2084

2 modified slightly: One of Isaac Newton's favorite books as a child was written by John Bate in 1634 and had the title:

	The Mysteries of Nature and Art
	The Mysteries of Math and Science
	The Mysteries of Math and Astronomy
	The Mysteries of Science and Spirtuality

3 modified slightly: Invented by Newton, this subject changed the way science has been done to this day:

	algebra
	trigonometry
	calculus
	geometry

Franklin Pierce   (1853-1857)

Planetary science

1 This layer of Earth's atmosphere consists mostly of hydrogen and helium

	exosphere
	stratosphere
	mesosphere
	troposphere
	hydrosphere

2 A rigid layer of Earth consisting of the crust and the top of the mantle is called the

	exosphere
	lithosphere
	thermosphere
	hydrosphere

3 Earth bulges out at the north and south poles

	true
	false

4 What is not one of the factors typicaly required for a planet or star to possess a magnetic field?

	liquid core
	conducting core
	hotter at the center
	positive ions
	rotation

5 On Mars, the largest of 4 shield volcanoes on _________ is called _________

	Tharsis Montes ... Olympus Mons
	Aphrodite Terra ... Ishtar Terra
	Tharsis Montes ... Arsia Mons
	Ishtar Terra ... Aphrodite Terra
	Arsia Montes... Olympus Mons

Stellar evolution

1 Stars are born out of the gravitational collapse of something called a 'giant ______ cloud'

	atomic
	nuclear
	molecular
	hydrogen
	heluim

2 The term 'brown dwarf' refers to a(n)

	old white dwarf
	young white dwarf
	young star
	dying star
	failed star

3 The primary source of nuclear energy for small main sequence stars is the fusion of helium into carbon

	true
	false

4 The primary source of nuclear energy for large main sequence stars is the fusion of helium into carbon

	true
	false

5 The primary source of nuclear energy for large main sequence stars is the fusion of helium into carbon

	true
	false